Jeremiah wrote, "Learn not the way of the HEATHEN ... for the customs of the people are VAIN" (Jer. 10:2). "The prophets prophesy LIES in my name" (Jer. 14:14; 23:26). "In VAIN do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt. 15:9), "making the Word of God of NONE EFFECT through your TRADITION" (Mark 7:13). "For the mystery of INIQUITY doth already work" (2 Th. 2:3,7). "Let no man DECEIVE you by any means; for that day shall not come except there come a FALLING AWAY first" (2 Th. 2:3). "Take heed that no man DECEIVE you. For MANY shall come in my name, saying I am Christ; and shall DECEIVE MANY" (Matt. 24:4-5) -- "speaking PERVERSE things" (Acts 20:30) "and MANY shall follow their PERNICIOUS ways" (2 Pet. 1:2) "turning the grace of God into LASCIVIOUSNESS" (Jude 3,19) "and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto FABLES" (2 Tim. 4:3-4). The inhabitants of the earth "have been made DRUNK" with confusing doctrines (Rev. 17:2) and their minds have been "BLINDED" (2 Cor. 4:4). Did Satan "CHANGE times and laws" (Dan. 7:25)? Does Satan DECEIVE "the whole world" today (Rev. 12:9)? Did he create COUNTERFEITS -- "another Jesus" and "another gospel" (2 Cor. 11:3-4) pretending to be an "angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14) but really a LIAR (John 8:44)?

Adam Obeyed Satan and Became His Servant

Satan is a "DECEIVER of the whole world" (Rev. 12:9). Adam and Eve OBEYED Satan in the Garden of Eden and thereby became his servants. "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to OBEY, his servants ye are to whom ye OBEY, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness" (Rom. 6:16). It is in memory of Adam's TURNING ASIDE from the right way that the pagan priests of Baal supplicated their god to hear them (1 Ki. 18:26) by LIMPING (turning aside) at the altar, for LIMPING (turning aside) is the exact meaning of the Hebrew word rendered "leaped". We must "Prove all things: Hold fast that which is good" (1 Th. 5:21).

Ten Antediluvian Kings

"In Chaldea Berosus enumerates TEN antediluvian kings. The legends of the Iranian race commence with the reign of 'TEN Peisdadien kings, men of ancient law, who lived on pure homa (water of life), who preserved their sanctity.' In India we meet with the nine Brahmadikas who, with Brahma, their founder, make TEN, and who are called the TEN Petris or Fathers. The Chinese count TEN emperors, partakers of the divine nature, before the dawn of historical times; and finally the Germans and Scandinavians believed in the TEN ancestors of Odin, and the Arabs in the TEN mythical kings of the Adites, the primordial people of their peninsula." (Lenormant, Ancient History of the East, vol. 1 pp.12-13) Tubal-Cain, the metal-smith, became Vulcan, the god of the forge (Gen. 4:22).

The Pagan Gods Were Merely Deified Mortal Men

Hesiod says that "the gods were the souls of MEN who were afterwards worshipped by their posterity, on account of their extraordinary virtues" (Hesiod, Opera et Dies 1:120-125). Hermes Trismegistus asserts that "Aesculapius, Osiris and Thoth were all holy MEN, whose souls were worshipped after their death by the Egyptians" (Herm. Apud. Mede's Apost. of Later Times 1:4). The Egyptian priests expressly taught "that Cronus, Osiris, Horus, and all their other principal deities were once mere MEN, but that after they died their souls migrated into some one or other of the heavenly bodies, and became the animating spirits of their new celestial mansions" (Plutarch De Iside, p.354). Diodorus Siculus says that "Osiris, Vulcan, and other cognate deities were all originally SOVEREIGNS of the people by whom they were venerated" (Diodorus, Bibl., book 1, pp.13-15). Herodotus also relates that the Egyptian priests admitted that their gods had once been KINGS of Egypt and that the last God king was Horus, the son of Osiris, who had deposed Typhon (Herod. 2:144).

Noah's Three Sons Mentioned in Secular History

After the Flood, Noah was "a preacher of righteousness" (2 Pet. 2:4-5) and therefore preached the commandments since "All thy commandments are righteousness" (Ps. 119:172). In India, Vishnu the Preserver is celebrated as having saved one righteous family when the world was drowned. He is identified with Noah himself since Vishnu is the Sanskrit form of "Ishnuh" -- "The Man Noah."

The Sibylline Oracles speak of Cronus (Ham), Japetus (Japheth) and Titan (Shem) as the three sons of Noah (Cory's Fragments, p.52). Similarly, in the Hindu Mythology, "Sama," (Shem) "Chama," (Ham) and "PraJapeti" (Lord Japhet) are said to be born of Menu (Noah) (Asiatic Researches, vol.8 p.255; Moor's Hindu Pantheon, p.173). Saturn "divided the universe among his three sons; alotting the heaven (northern regions) to Jupiter (Japhet), the sea (maritime middle regions) to Neptune (Shem) and hell (southern regions) to Pluto" (Ham) (p. 382, Patriarchal Age by Smith). Bochart produces fourteen points of resemblance between Noah and Saturn (Faber's Horae Mosaicae 1:142). The Persian account of the three sons of Noah are Oromasdes, Mithras and Ahriman. They are again repeated in the mythology of the Scandinavians where Bore was the great father, and the three sons Odin Vile and Ve (Edda, fable 3). The son of Ham (Ammon) was Cush (Saturn) and the son of Cush was Nimrod (Marduk).

Was Naamah the Wife of Ham? Did She Make Noah Drunk? Did Ham Castrate Noah?

Cain was a sun-worshipper (p.236, Cumberland's Sanchoniathon's History). Naamah is singled out as a direct descendant of godless Cain and sister of Tubal-Cain (Gen. 4:22). This is because she is the wife of some person of importance. Plutarch says the wife of Cronus (Ham) was "Nemaus" which would be just the Greek form of the Hebrew "Naamah" (p.107, ibid.). Perhaps originally she was Noah's wife (Bereshit Rabba, sect. 23, fol. 20.3 Jarchi in loc. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 1.2). But she made him drunk (Gen. 9:21; Rev. 17:4); and became his Naamah-Isis or NEMESIS as the wife of Ham. Supposedly Ouranus (Noah) was "injurious to his wife, and that she therefore excited Cronus (Ham) to avenge her quarrel on his father" (p.153, Sanchoniathon). Saturn (Ham) CASTRATED Ouranos (Noah) (pp. 34, 103-104, Sanchoniathon) and as a result, Noah bled to death (p.341, ibid.). Ham committed "slaughters and murders ... against his brother and children, yea and his own father, and observing that from hence arose a pestilence, and the death of his subjects ... Cronus (Ham) offered up his only begotten son a burnt offering to the offended Manes (Noah) of his father" (p.149, ibid.). He began the practice of HUMAN SACRIFICE. Cain's religion of IDOLATRY was "RESTORED by Ham after the Flood" (p.259, ibid.). He "apostasized" from Noah's religion (p.236, ibid.). NEMESIS preserved IDOLATRY, MAGIC and OCCULT knowledge through the Flood so men could communicate with the spirit world. She corrupted the post-flood world (Rev. 17:4) just as Solomon's wives corrupted him (1 Ki. 11:4). "Ye shall not go in unto them, nor they to you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods" (1 Ki. 11:2; Ex. 34:16; Deut. 7:3-4). Ham's descendants were cursed (Gen. 9:25) because of their moral corruption. They practised religions that were SHAMELESS, REVOLTING, OBSCENE and DEPRAVED.

Naamah-Isis may have been known as Astarte (p.332, Sanchoniathon) (Astarte in Greek is Ashtereth in Hebrew), mentioned in Genesis 14:5 where Chederlaomer and his allies smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Carnaim (from Cronus which is Ham), and the Zuzims in Ham. These giants were Ham's children, or descendants from him, and their two cities seem to bear their father's and mother's name. Thus they both -- Ham (Cronus) and Astarte (Naamah?) -- must have lived before Abraham's time.

Cush Caused Chaos at the Tower of Babel -- He Bred Giants and Practised Cannibalism -- Resulting in Confusion of Tongues

Saturn (Cronus or Cush) is said to have obtained the kingdom of Coelus or Ouranos (Noah's world empire), by the consent of his brother Titan (Shem or Set), on the condition that he did not bring up any more male children, and that, in order to conceal them, he DEVOURED them as soon as they were born. We know that it was the universal custom for the priests to EAT the sacrifices. "Are not they who EAT of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?" (1 Cor. 9:12-13; 10:18). In order to saftisfy his demon gods, and probably in obedience to their teaching, he offered his sons in sacrifice to them, and since he was the sacrificing priest, ATE the sacrifice thus offered. HUMAN SACRIFICE and CANNIBALISM originated with Cush (p.37, Sanchoniathon) and spread to the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Hindus, Mexicans and Celtic nations. The author of Nimrod says, "The tyrant Zoroaster (Nimrod), of the line of Cham (Ham), was one of the founders of the Tower of Babel; he sacrificed innumerable victims to the demons" (Nimrod, vol.1, p.146). Therefore we find that the sacrifice of the FIRSTBORN to the Sun-god Osiris (Nimrod) was one of the most notorious of the Egyptian rites (Transactions Victoria Institute, vol.14, p.113). Baal and Moloch were other names for Nimrod. The Greek story of Saturn devouring his CHILDREN goes on to say that Rhea (Semiramis), the wife of Saturn (Cush), in order to save her CHILD, gave him a stone instead of Jupiter (Nimrod), when he was born. Jupiter, like Osiris, was the son of Saturn. Since babies were first killed, then burned, it was not difficult to deceive the father. She presented Cush with a stone bound in swaddling bands to represent a CHILD. (Hesiod Theogonia, lines 485, etc. pp.,38,41). When Shem discovered the birth of Nimrod, he made war against Nimrod and overpowered him (Lempriere, Titan). Cush lost his kingdom and escaped to Latium, Italy

The first two kings of the Egyptian monarchy, Menes "the Thebanite" (in south Egypt near Ethiopia) (Cush) and Athoth (Nimrod), were also the first two kings of Babylon, and founders of a great Cushite Empire. They began a dynasty of Theban kings (p.81, Sanchoniathon). Menes (Cush) was worshipped as a god called Meon (Nu. 32:38; 1 Chr. 5:8; Ez. 25:9; Jer. 48:23). Meon was the first king of of Lydia and Phrygia (Diodorus; p.468, Sanchoniathon). Manes was the founder of the Lydian monarchy (Herodotus, p.45). Minos was the first king of Crete also. Every nine years he made king Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to the labyrinth to be EATEN by the Minotaur. All were the same person (p.471, Sanchoniathon). Cush was also known as Belus, Hermes, Cronus, Seb, Saturn and Janus. Berosus calls the founder of the first dynasty of Chaldea Evechous (man of Cush -- p. 349, Lenormant). Nimrod was known as Ninus, Osiris, Tammuz, Bel Merodach, Marduk, Bacchus and Mars.

But this empire was overthrown. Manetho wrote, "There was a king of ours whose name was Timaus (Tammuz -- Cumberland's Sanchoniathon, p. 359-360). Under him it came to pass, I know not how, that God was averse to us, and there came in a surprising manner men of ignoble birth out of the eastern parts, and had boldness enough to make an expedition into our country, and with ease subdued it by force, yet without our hazarding a battle with them. (This parallels the overthrow of Osiris by Typhon, who overcame him "not by force or open war" -- Wilkinson's Egyptians 4:330-332) So when they had gotten those who governed us (Tammuz and his father) under their power, they afterwards burned down our cities and demolished the temples of the (false) gods (cp. Num. 33:52; Deut. 7:5, 25-26), and used all the inhabitants in a most barbarous manner, nay, some they slew and led their children and wives into slavery. The whole nation was called Hyksos, that is, Shepherd Kings" (Manetho, from Josephus, Contr. Apion 1:14-15) whose domination is said to have lasted 518 years (Against Apion 1:14-15) from Shem who was the first Shepherd king till Apophis who was the last. "The king Apepi (Apophis) chose the god Sutekh (Set or Shem) as his Lord, and did not serve any other god in the whole land" and also commanded a vassal king to repudiate his gods (Sallier Papyrus in Br. Museum). Thus Apophis warred against Osiris (Plutarch S.36; Cumberland's Sanchoniathon, p.165). Syncellus says that it was a tradition, "received by the whole world," that Joseph ruled the land in the reign of King Apophis or Apepi" (Brugach, Hist. of Egypt, 1:260). Therefore Apepi (Agag) was being grateful to the God of Joseph and Shem who saved Egypt from famine. Incidentally, the Israelites who later joined these Shepherd Kings in Egypt were also "shepherds" (Gen. 47:3).

"For many ages men lived under the government of Jove (Jehovah) without cities and without laws, and all speaking one language. But after Mercury (Hermes means "son of Ham" -- Cush) interpreted (divided) the speeches of men, the same individual distributed the nations. Then discord began" (Hyginnius, p. 114). Thus the name of Cush became synonymous with "CONFUSION" -- Chaos. Proof that Cush was also known as Bel can be found in Jeremiah 1:2 where we read, "Bel is confounded" or "CONFUSION is CONFUSED." This father of the gods, also known as Janus, says, "The ancients called me CHAOS." (Ovid, Fasti book 1, verse 104; vol.3 p.19). "CHAOS is CHAOTIC" (Jer. 1:2).

"There were FALLEN ONES in the earth in those days (before the Flood), and also after that (after the Flood), when the sons of God (the FALLEN ANGELS) came in unto the daughters of men (temple priestesses) and they bare children to them; the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown" (Gen. 6:4). How did this happen? Is there any secular historical confirmation? According to Herodotus, on top of the tower of Belus at Babylon was the temple of Belus (Cush) in which was "a handsome couch and table of gold." "No mortal" he says, "passes the night there, except one woman chosen by the god (FALLEN ANGEL) out of the whole nation. He adds that the priests "assert that the god (FALLEN ANGEL) himself comes to the temple and reclines on the bed in the same manner as the Egyptians say happens at the temple of Thebes in Egypt, for there also a woman lies in the temple of the Theban Jupiter, and both are said to have no intercourse with men." So also he says that the priestess of the oracle at Paterae in Lycia is "shut up during the night in the temple with the god." (FALLEN ANGEL) (Herodotus 1:181-182). The purpose of these tower temples may have been to BREED nephilim GIANTS -- "greater in power and might" (2 Pet. 2:11).
"The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6). They "went after strange flesh" (Jude 6). Greek "mythology" is full of accounts of affairs between gods and mortals. Babel originally meant "Gate of God." Pausanius mentions in his Attics finding men's bones in Milesia that were 15 feet long. Anciently Milesia was called Anactoria after the Anakim (p.477-478, Sanchoniathon).

The resulting CONFUSION produced certain strange races of GIANTS in Palestine, the Rephaim, Enim, Anakium and Zuzim. They were not Canaanites, as there is no mention of them in the geneologies in Genesis 10:15-19. They were the result of intercourse between fallen angels and women of Canaan. They were irredeemably evil since "the man that wanders out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the Rephaim" (Pr. 21:16) and the woman "which forsaketh the guide of her youth and forgetteth the covenant of her God, inclineth to the Rephaim" (Pr. 2:17-18). Spiritually dead. "The Rephaim shall not rise" (Isa. 26:14). The KJV doesn't do justice to these verses. Look in a Hebrew-English Interlinear.

HUMAN SACRIFICES were offered to Baal and the word "CANNIBAL" is derived from Cahna Bal -- the priest of Bel (Cush). Cush was the originator of HUMAN SACRIFICES. Belus (Cush) was the first king of Babylon and Assyria (Cory's Fragments, pp. 65, 70-71)."The tyrant Zoroaster, of the line of Cham (Ham), was one of the founders of the Tower of Babel; he sacrificed innumerable VICTIMS to the demons" (Nimrod vol.1, p.146). "It was the custom among the ancients in time of great calamity, in order to prevent the ruin of all, for the rulers of the city, or nation, to SACRIFICE to the avenging deities the most beloved of their CHILDREN as the price of redemption" (Sanchoniathon, from Porphyry, Cory, Fragments pp. 16-17).

Nimrod (Marduk) Was An Ethiopian Giant and A Tyrant Who Rebelled Against God

Varro reckons the interval between the Flood (2304 BC) and the first Olympiad (776 BC) to be about 1600 years (p.84, Sanchoniathon). Josephus also says that "more than one thousand three hundred years" elapsed from Menes (Cush) until Solomon (Ant. 8:6:2). If Solomon was born in 990 BC, then 1300 years before that, brings us to 2290 BC. and Cush reigned 62 years making Nimrod's accession about 2228 BC. More precisely, several independent methods of reckoning place the beginning of Nimrod's reign at 2234-2233 B.C. (Garnier's Worship of the Dead, pp. 280-285; see also Pliny NH 7:56 and Rawlinson's Herodotus vol. 1, essay 6, pp.434-435). Callisthenes, a relation and disciple of Aristotle, who accompanied Alexander the Great on his eastern expedition, was told by the priests of the temple of Belus in Babylon, that they had preserved a series of astronomical calculations, which extended over a space of 1903 years before that time. Alexander conquered Babylon in 330 BC. These records therefore must have begun 2233 BC.

Syncellus (and Ctesias -- 400 BC) says the reign of Ninus or Nimrod (Athothes) was 52 years. Manetho gives Athothes (Nimrod) a reign of 57 years, and Eratosphenes gives him a reign of 59 years. If we substract 57 years from 2234 BC we get 2177 BC for Nimrod's death and the accession of Shem as Shepherd king. Scaliger, speaking of the Babylonian kings, says that "Belus reigned sixty-two years, Ninus fifty-two years, and Semiramis, called Rhea, on account of her manifold atrocities, forty-two years" (Cory, Fragments, p.76). In accordance with this, we find in the list of Egyptian kings, that both Manetho and Eratosthenes give Menes, like Belus, a reign of sixty-two years, and Athothes, who must be the same as Ninus, is given a reign of fifty-seven years by Manetho and fifty-nine years by Eratosthenes (Egyptian Dynasties, Cory, pp.84,94). Apparently Sanchoniathon's Miser (Biblical Misraim) was a subordinate or vassal of Menes (Cush) in Egypt (Sanchoniathon, p. 54, 58, 79). Eupolemus calls Menes by the name Mestraim. "The priests said that Menes was the first king of Egypt" (Her. 2:99). Josephus calls the first Pharaoh, the founder of Memphis, Minaeus, which may be a reference to Miser (Mizraim). The Turks call Memphis by the Hebrew name Mitzir rather than to the Greek Menephis (p.452, Sanchoniathon).

The Semitic root "marah" (MR) in Hebrew means BITTERNESS as well as DISOBEDIENCE. From this root is derived "marad" (MRD), or REBELLION, which is the original both of Nimrod (the Babylonian Nin-Mir-Rud), or (NMRD), as well as Marduk/Merodach (MRDK). Nimrod (or Marduk) conquered all nations as far as Libya (Bryant, Mythology vol.2, p.377). This means that Egypt was included since it was between Babylon and Libya. Nimrod protected the Sumerians (Miller's Ancient History in Bible Light, p.51) from wild animals by building walled cities (Gen. 11:4). One such city was NINEVEH meaning "the habitation of NIN" (Gen. 10:11). "Ninus is Nimrod" (Appollodoros, Fragments 68). He also protected the Egyptians by building THEBES. "Osiris having married Isis, in many ways promoted the good of that (Egyptian) kingdom, but especially by building the chief city thereof, called by the Greeks Diospolis (THEBES), but called by the Jews 'Hamon No,' and erected a temple to his parent, whom the Greeks called Zeus and Hera, but the Egyptians Ammon, and the Jews Hamon and HAM" (History of Sanchoniathon, p.99).

Josephus says, "Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an AFFRONT and CONTEMPT of God. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, -- a bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it was through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the government into TYRANNY, -- seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a CONSTANT DEPENDENCE upon his power. He also said he would be REVENGED on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would BUILD a tower too high for the waters to be able to reach! and that he would AVENGE himself on God for destroying their forefathers!" (Ant. 1:4:2)

Notice EIGHT PARALLELS between Nimrod and Gilgamesh. Just as (1.) Nimrod or Gilgamesh was "11 cubits tall" (16 feet) (tablet 1) -- a "GIANT" (Gen. 10:9), (2.) a "king of URUK" (tablet 1) or Erech (Gen. 10:10), (3.) "two-thirds god and one third man" (tablet 1) (one of the NEPHILIM -- Gen. 6:1-4) (4.) "OPPRESSING his people" (tablet 1) (a tyrant -- Gen. 10:8-9) (5.) by "FORCING men to labor" (tablet 1) on BUILDING projects ("builded" -- Gen. 10:11) and (6.) "RAPING WIVES on their wedding nights" (tablet 1) ("they took them wives of al whom they chose" -- Gen. 6:2). (7.) He HUNTED lions (tablet 9) -- a "mighty hunter" (Gen. 10:9), and (8.) claimed to have VANQUISHED the one who sent the Flood (tablet 5) according to the Epic of Gilgamesh. He was "against the Eternal" (10:9).

Ninus and Semiramis were the first rulers of the Babylonian Empire (Cory's Fragments p.66). "Ninus is Nimrod" (Appollodoros, Fragments 68). He became the HUSBAND of his MOTHER (Bunsen's Egypt vol.1, pp.438-439; Rawlinson's Herodotus vol.1 essay 10, pp. 625,626). Persians say he (Ghemschid - Nimrod) married the daughter of a demon implying Semiramis had a Nephilim father, and that from this marriage sprang "the BLACK and IMPIOUS RACE" (Smith's Dict. of the Bible, "Giants"). Egyptian tradition shows that their god Osiris (Nimrod) was BLACK (Plutarch's De Isid, et. Os. vol.2, p.359), not reddish like the Misraim population generally. He was clothed in LEOPARD skin (Bunsen vol. 1, p.425). The name "Nimrod" means "subduer of the LEOPARD " -- from Nimr, a "LEOPARD", and "rod" "to subdue." This name seems to imply that Nimrod subdued the LEOPARD and used it in hunting (Hislop, p.44). In India hunting with leopards has been a custom (Wilkinson vol.3, p. 171). Persian legends show that Hosang (Cush) the father of Tahmurs (Nimrod) who built Babylon, was the "first who bred dogs and leopards for hunting" (Sir William Jones' Works vol.4, pp. 341,353). The Egyptian high priest's robe of office was the LEOPARD'S skin. Nimrod, by the same spotted covering, is identified as being the Greek god Bacchus (Bar = son + Chus = Son of Cush). Leopards were employed to draw Bacchus' chariot. He was represented as attired in leopard skins and his priests were attired in the same manner or with the spotted skin of a fawn. This latter seems to have come from Assyria (Vaux's Nineveh, ch. 8, p.233).

The rites of the Egyptian Osiris and the Grecian Bacchus are the same, and those of the Egyptian Isis (Semiramis) and Ceres (the Grecian Semiramis) exactly resemble each other (Bibliotheca book 1 p.9). Nimrod instigated the discord and the apostasy after the Flood. "He was a MIGHTY (Heb. "gibbor" meaning "TYRANT" or "GIANT") hunter BEFORE (Heb. "paniym" means "AGAINST") the Eternal" (Gen. 10:8-9). Nimrod was AGAINST God. The Septuagint calls him a GIANT. Conspiracy and sedition were carried on by Nimrod (Epiphanius book 1 vol. 1, p. 7). He was a "hunter" of men's souls (cp. Jer. 16:16).

Diodorus Siculus says, "Ninus, the first of the Assyrian kings mentioned in history, performed great actions. Being naturally of a warlike disposition, and ambitious of glory that results from valour, he armed a considerable number of young men that were brave and vigorous like himself, trained them up a long time in laborious exercises and hardships and by that means accustomed them to bear the fatigues of war and to face dangers with intrepidity" (Diodorus, Bibl. vol.2, p.63). Trogus Pompeius says, "Ninus, king of the Assyrians, first of all changed the contented moderation of the ancient manners, incited by a new passion, the desire for conquest. He was the first who carried on war against his neighbors, and he conquered all nations from Assyria to Lybia, as they were as yet unacquainted with the art of war" (Justin's Trogus Pompeius, Hist. Rom. Scrip. , vol. 2, p.615). Nimrod invented MAGIC arts and ASTROLOGY used them to impress his converts (Epiphanius Adv. Heres. 1:1:1: p.7; Justinius Historia book 1 volume 2, p.615).

Nimrod Taught Serpent Worship (Demon & Satan Worship)

When Nimrod got the Sumerians and Egyptians under his control in cities, they "changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like ... CREEPING things" (Rom. 1:23). They worshipped the SERPENT remembering the Garden of Eden in which the SNAKE had "enlightened" mankind in the knowledge of good and evil just as the sun enlightens the physical world.

Satan is "the god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4) and 'the prince of this world" (John 14:30). He showed Christ "all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them" and then said, "All these things will I give unto thee, for that is DELIVERED UNTO ME, and to whomsoever I will give it. If therefore thou wilt WORSHIP ME, all shall be thine" (Luke 4:5-7). Satan is described as "that OLD SERPENT" which "deceiveth the whole world" (Rev. 12:9). Babylon was the central seat of Cushite idolatry, as implied by the the apocryphal book of Bel and the Dragon, where it is said, "In that same place was a great DRAGON which they of BABYLON worshipped." (1:23) "It is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols" (Jer. 50:38). The same word which denotes "DIVINATION" in Hebrew, Arabic and Greek, also denotes "a SERPENT" (Deane, p.228). The etymology of the word "Ethiopian" (Cushite) appears to be "the race of Ophe," or "race of the SERPENT," from "ethnos" or "ethos" (race) and "ophis" (serpent). The Arabians call the Ethiopians "Nagashi" (serpents) from "Nahash" or the Indian "Naga" a SERPENT. If this is literally true, then they are claiming Nephilim descent from the giants like Nimrod (Gilgamesh) (Gen. 6:1-4).

On the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, the Chaldean priesthood fled to Pergamos, where Aesculapius has ever since been worshipped under the form of a SERPENT (Barker and Ainsworth's Lares and Penates of Cilicia, ch. 8, p.232; Hislop, p. 278-279) -- "where Satan's seat is" (Rev. 2:13). From BABYLON, the sacred SERPENT of the Canaanites was called "Oph," "Ob," "Oub," and "Eph". In Hebrew, the word for "FAMILIAR SPIRIT" in Deuteronomy 18:11 is "Oph". The word for "WIZARD" in Lev. 20:27 is also "Oph." Also the WITCH of Endor is called an "Ob" or "Oub." When the Canaanites were "scattered abroad" (Gen. 10:18) they took this SERPENT-worship to AFRICA, as did the Cushite (Ethiopian) race also. SERPENT-worship still exists in AFRICA to this day and, until recently, human victims were required to be offered. In Egyptian hieroglyphics a SERPENT is the symbol for God or King (p.306, Ancient History of the East by Lenormant). The title of the Egyptian kings -- "Pharaoh" -- is a compound of Aphe (SERPENT) and Ra (sun), by which they claim descent from the Sun and SERPENT god. The name "Amenoph," by which some of the Theban kings were known, is a compound of Amon (Sun) and Ophe (SERPENT).

In GREECE, at Delphi, Apollo was worshipped under the form of of a PYTHON, and a hymn was sung to it every seventh day. The symbol for Mercury was a Caduceus -- a winged wand entwined by SERPENTS. In ROME at the time of great pestilence, Aesculapius, the child of the Sun was brought to Rome in the form of a huge SERPENT and became its guardian deity (Ovid Metam. book 15:736-745; Lactantius, De Origine Erroris p. 82 and 2:16:108; Hislop pp. 236-237, 280). In consequence of the worship of the SERPENT god in Rome, SERPENTS became sacred, so that in nearly every house a SERPENT of a harmless sort was kept, and they multiplied so fast that they became a nuisance (Pompeii, 2:114-115; Hislop. p.237). In MEXICO a huge figure of a DRAGON was placed on the summit of the pyramid temple on which human victims were sacrificed to the sun. It is said that 50,000 victims were sacrificed every year. At Topira, in PERU, there was a temple with a vast image of a SERPENT with its tail in its mouth, like the Egyptian representation of the SERPENT of the sun. A man was sacrificed to it every year. Satan was a murdered from the beginning (John 8:44). In INDIA, Juggernaut is the Indian Moloch, and like him, required human victims. He was sometimes worshipped under the form of a seven-headed DRAGON, and the "Naga," or five-headed hooded SERPENT, is constantly represented as the object of special adoration in Indian scriptures. Buddha was also represented by a SERPENT, and a SERPENT was the sign of his worshippers. In CHINA the great DRAGON was the banner of the Empire, and indicated everything sacred in it. It was the symbol of royalty, and was sculptured in all temples. They believe their good fortune depends upon the great DRAGON. They call him the father of happiness and erect temples to him. In BRITAIN, the Druids worshipped the SERPENT. The Celtic Hu was called "The DRAGON Ruler of the World," his car is represented as drawn by SERPENTS, and his priests were called ADDERS. The word for "royal palace" or "church" is BASCILICA which comes from BASILISK meaning a royal SERPENT. (see Worship of the Dead by Garnier, pp. 235-242). Truly "Babylon hath been a golden cup in the hands of the Lord, to make all the earth drunken. The nations have drunken of her wine, therefore the nations are mad" (Jer. 51:7).

But SERPENT worship has been disguised. The names on the idols have been changed. "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works." (2 Cor. 11:13) Neither give place to the devil" (Eph.4:27) by worshipping statues of "Mary" and praying to images of "saints". That is actually DEMON worship. Buddism teaches that the idol, or other symbol, which has once become the habitation of a god, will always remain so. Spiritualists find that chairs, tables, etc., which have been used as mediums of communication with spirits, are always more susceptible of their influence than similar articles which have not been so utilized. Augustine quoted Hermes Trismegistus as stating "that visible and tangible images, (i.e. idols), are, as it were, only the bodies of the gods, and that there DWELL IN THEM CERTAIN SPIRITS which have been invited to come in them, and which have power to INFLICT HARM, or to FULFILL THE DESIRES of those by whom divine honours and services are rendered to them" (De Civitate Dei 8:23). Paul also said, "the sacrifices of pagans are offered to DEMONS" (1 Cor. 10:20). Moses confirmed this by saying "they shall no more offer their sacrifices to DEVILS" (Lev. 17:7; Deut. 32:17; Ps. 106:37; 2 Chr. 11:15). "These SPIRITS lurk UNDER the STATUES and consecrated IMAGES. These inspire the breasts of their prophets with their afflatus, animate the fibres of the entrails, direct the flight of birds, rule the lots, give efficiency to oracles, are always MIXING up FALSEHOOD with TRUTH, for they are both deceived and they DECEIVE. They disturb their life, they disquiet their slumbers. Their spirits also CREEPING into their bodies, secretly terrify their minds, distort their limbs, break their health, excite diseases, to force them to the worship of themselves, so that when glutted with the steam of the altars, and the piles of cattle, they may unloose what they had bound, and so APPEAR to have EFFECTED A CURE. The only remedy from them is when their own mischief ceases; nor have they any other desire than to call men AWAY FROM GOD, and to win them from the understanding of the true religion to superstition with respect to themselves; and since they themselves are under punishment, to seek for themselves COMPANIONS IN PUNISHMENT whom they may by their misguidance make SHARERS IN THEIR CRIME" (Cyprian on "The Vanity of Idols"). So also Clement of Alexandria, speaking of the Pagan oracles, says, "It is evident, since they are DEMONIAC SPIRITS, that they know some things both more QUICKLY and more PERFECTLY (than men); for they are not retarded in their learning by the heaviness of a body, and therefore they, as being spirits, know WITHOUT DELAY, and WITHOUT DIFFICULTY, what physicians attain after a long time and by much labour. It is not wonderful therefore if they know somewhat more than men do; but this is to be observed, that what they know, they do not employ for the salvation of souls but for the DECEPTION of them, that by means of it they may indoctrinate them in the worship of FALSE RELIGION".

The fear of the Eternal is the beginning of wisdom (Ps. 111:10). But Nimrod "emancipated" the people from the fear of the Eternal. Nimrod was the first DESPOT after the Flood to form a religious, economic, social and political civilization contrary to the Bible. His Babylonian apostasy excluded God. His followers' minds were "not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7). They practiced ABORTION and CANNIBALISM by eating "the sacrifices of the dead" children (Ps. 106:28). They also practiced obscene PHALLIC WORSHIP, SACRED PROSTITUTION and CELIBACY. Then God scattered these people (Gen. 11:8).

As Plutarch says, "First Tammuz (Nimrod) was worshipped as the bruiser of the serpent's head ... Then the DRAGON himself, or SATAN, came to receive a certain measure of worship ... and last of all the DRAGON, or Teitan or SATAN, became the supreme object of worship, the Titania, or rites of Teitan, occupying a prominent place in the Egyptian Mysteries" (De Iside, vol. 2, p.362,364). "The SERPENTS were the supreme of all the gods ... No wonder that it came at last to be firmly believed that the Messiah, on whom the hopes of the world depended, was Himself the "seed of the SERPENT"! (Eusebius Proeparatio Evang., vol.1, p.50). "In Greece ... Bacchus (Tammuz) was brought forth in consequence of a connection on the part of his mother with the father of the gods, in the form of a 'speckled SNAKE'. Thus the (devil) ... got himself almost everywhere recognized as in every deed 'the god of this world'" (ibid.). In Pergamos was "Satan's seat" after Belshazzar's time (Hislop, p.240). Its serpent worship took the name of Aesculapius, "the man-instructing SERPENT" (Macrobius Saturnalia book 1, p.650). This Devil-worship was transferred to Rome when Pergamos became a part of the Roman Empire. Remarkably, the name Saturn (Nimrod) in Chaldee (Babylonian) is STUR and S=60, T=400, U=6 and R=200 and the original name of Rome itself was Saturnia -- the city of Saturn. This is vouched alike by Ovid, by Pliny and by Aurelius Victor (Hislop, pp.269-270). A woman "possessed by "a spirit of divination" -- literally "a spirit of Python" -- lost her power which "brought no small gain to her masters" when Paul cast the demon out (Acts 16:16-40). Israelites were commanded to put to death wizards, witches and those possessed of familiar spirits (Ex. 22:18). "And if they say unto you, seek unto them whose speech is in their belly (demon possession), and those that speak out of the earth (ventriloquists? -- Isa. 29:4), those that utter vain words, that speak out of their belly, should not a people seek unto their God" (Isa. 8:19; Septuagint Version). In the temple of Isis at Busiris the goddess herself, according to Diodorus Siculs, appeared to the sleeper in a dream and prescribed remedies. "Numbers are thus cured after they have, through the malignancy of their diseases, been given up by their physicians, and many persons who have been absolutely deprived of sight, or disabled in any other part of the body, are restored to their previous soundness as soon as they have recourse to this goddess." (Dio. Sic. 1:25). Do demons have power to heal? No, they simply release what they themselves have bound, to make it appear like a cure. As Cicero argues, "Would that oracle at Delphi have ever been so celebrated and illustrious and so loaded with such splendid gifts from all nations and kings if all ages had not had experience of the TRUTH of its predictions? Let this fact remain -- which cannot be denied, unless we will overthrow all history -- that that oracle has told the TRUTH for many ages" (Cicero, De Div. 19).

But Croesus , king of Lydia, found the oracle's truth to be DECEPTIVE even though correct. Croesus, who disliked the growing power of Persia, consulted the oracle of Delphi about going to war with Persia, and enquired how long the empire of Lydia would last. The answer was, "That the war would subvert a great empire, and that Lydia should subsist till a mule came came to possess the throne of Media." Croesus considered this to be an assurance of the perpetual duration of his kingdom. But Lydia was the empire to be subverted, and Cyrus was the mule; inasmuch as he was born of parents of different nations, the mother a Mede and daughter of Astyages king of Media; and the father a Persian -- subject to the Medes.

Can demons predict the future? No, they simply influence future events to some extent and therefore get it right some of the time (Deut. 13:1). Thus it came about that one of the commonest symbols of the SUN-GOD is a disc with a SERPENT around it (Bunsen's Hieroglyphics, vol. 1, p. 497). The conditions required for receiving a prophecy and magical powers wielded by the pagan priesthood and the Buddhist ascetics, are ABSTINENCE from MARRIAGE, wine and MEAT which Paul says is giving "heed to SEDUCING SPIRITS and the doctrines of DEVILS" (1 Tim. 4:1-4). Remarkably, the Roman Catholic Church has adopted CELIBACY and ABSTINENCE FROM MEAT as the highest forms of holiness.

Nimrod Taught Sun Worship

There was a golden image of the SUN in the temple of Belus in BABYLON (Maimonides, More Nevochim, p. 426) and a similar image of gold was found in the temple of Cuzco in PERU (Prescott, Conquest of Peru 3:41). Brilliant metal reflectors, or "SUN Images," were placed over the altars of Baal, the SUN god of the CANAANITES (2 Chr. 34:4). Similar disks of the SUN were also placed for worship in the EGYPTIAN temples, and in a grotto near Babian, in Upper EGYPT, a representation has been found of priests worshipping an image of the SUN placed above the altar (Maurice, Indian Antiquities 3:309; Hislop, p. 162). Amenophis III and his family are represented worshipping an image of the SUN (Wilkinson, Plate XXIII). The obelisks and minarets and spires of Christian churches were originally symbols of the SUN'S rays, and also of the Phallus, as representing the same principle of generation.

In EGYPT, "The thin, round, cake occurs on all altars" (Wilkinson's Egyptians 5:353 note) representing the SUN'S disk and the seed. Round cakes were offered on all the GRECIAN altars and were called "Popana" (Grecian Antiquities, Potter and Boyd 2:4:217). ISRAELITE women offered cakes to the Queen of Heaven called Ashtoreth (Jer. 7:18). In ROME they were called "Mola" -- a word derived from immolare, "to sacrifice". This sacrifice was said to "efface the sins of the people" (Pollux in Onom 1:1:25).

Churches meet together on a counterfeit rest day called SUNDAY. This is the "Lord's day" since Baal means "Lord." "Constantine's famous edict (321 AD) definitely enrolled SUNDAY among the holidays of the Roman state religion. The change from Saturn's day to SUNDAY must have further commended the planetary week in Christian circles, where the Lord's day ... beginning the week, had long been observed as the day on which Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, rose from the dead. Thus a pagan institution was engrafted on Christianity" (Webster's Rest Days, p.222). What was Constantine's own religion? "Constantine ... persevered till he was near forty years of age in the practice of the established religion (paganism) ... But the devotion of Constantine was more peculiarly directed to the genius of the SUN ... The SUN was universally celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of Constantine." (Gibbon's Decline & Fall, pp.636-638). What were the words of Constantine's famous edict of 321 AD? "On the venerable day of the SUN let all magistrates and people ... rest" (Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, article "Sunday Legislation").

Churches honor saints with HALOS around their heads. But the heads of all the images of Buddha, Kwanyin and other deities are surrounded by the “AUREOLE,” or “HALO,” which was also a particular symbol of the SUN god in other nations. It was placed round the heads of the images of the gods and heroes in ROME and GREECE, and also round the heads of the Roman Emperors, to whom divine honors were paid after death. It was regarded as the token of the divinity of the person represented, that is to say, of his being a son of the SUN god, as implied by the lines: — “Twelve golden beams around his temples play, To mark his lineage from the god of day” (Dryden, Virgil, book 12. pp.245-246; vol.3, p.775; Hislop p.237).

“The ceremony of TONSURE was an old practice of the priests of Mithra (the sun god of Persia), who in their TONSURES represented the SOLAR disk.” (Maurice, Ind. Antiq. Vol.7, p.851). The priests of Isis likewise shaved their heads (Lempriere, Isis and Isiaca). So did those of Osiris (Macrobius, book 1, cap. 23); so did those of Pagan ROME (Tertullian vol.2, Carmina, pp.1105, 1106). “The ARABIANS acknowledge no other gods but Bacchus and Urania, the Queen of Heaven, and they say their hair is cut in the same way as Bacchus’ is cut. Now they cut it in a CIRCULAR form, shaving it round the temples (Herodotus 3:8). Sakya Muni is said to have shaved his head and directed his disciples to do so in obedience to a command of Vishnu (Kennedy, Buddha in Hindu Myth, pp. 263,264; Hislop, pp.221-222).. Hence their title, “The shaved heads.” The antiquity of the custom is shown by the commands given to the Israelites forbidding it (Lev. 19:27-28; Deut. 14:1).

Babylonians celebrated the birth of the Unconquered SUN at the winter SOLSTICE (December 25th) just when the SUN begins to wax strong again (Giesler's Ecclesiastical History, vol.2, p.42). The son of Isis was born at the winter SOLSTICE (Wilkin's Egyptians, vol.4, p.405). Horus was born on the winter solstice, December 25th (Plutarch De Iside, 2:377-378). Osiris was identified with Apis, the sacred bull, and was worshipped as "Sar Apis" or Serapis" (Wilkinson, 3:87,89) who was identified with the Sun (Macrobius, Saturn 1:25; Wilkinson 3:97). "Yule" was the Chaldee name for "infant" long before Christ's time. Jesus never commanded us to celebrate His birth -- which occurred before winter (Luke 2:8). The mother of Adonis (Nimrod) was changed into a tree (Jer. 10:1-4). While in this state she was said to have delivered her "divine" son (Ovid Metam. book 15:500-513). This makes the son "a branch" (cp. Jer. 23:5) -- another counterfeit. Thus people acknowledge Nimrod as their "savior" who "saved" them from following God's laws at the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:6). What blasphemy.

Lady Day is celebrated on March 25, nine months before the "savior" was born to celebrate the "miraculous" conception. It honored the Babylonian "messiah" long before Christ's time (Ammianus Marcellinus book 23 ch.3, p.355). Churches celebrate Easter (Assyrian name of Semiramis was Ishtar) SUNRISE services to honor the rising SUN and face east at its rising. "An egg of wondrous size is said to have fallen from heaven into the river Euphrates ... out came Venus, who afterward became the Assyrian goddess" (Hyginus' Fabulae, pp.148-149). This Ishtar Egg (or "Ashtaroth" -- Judges 2:13) commemorates the birth of Semiramis. Jesus never commanded us to celebrate His resurrection this way. At communion, many churches still serve ROUND wafers with a SUNBURST image on them that came from pagan SUN-worship. Yet our Lord said, "I am that bread of life" (John 6:48) and he "broke it" (Luke 22:19). The unbroken wafer is adored in Rome. They actually pray to a biscuit: "Bread-corn of the elect, have mercy upon us" is one of the appointed prayers of the Roman Litany addressed to the wafer host.

The Feast of the Nativity of St. John is set down in the Papal calendar for the 24th of June -- Summer SOLSTICE. The very same period was equally memorable in the Babylonian calendar for one of its grand original festivals -- to commemmorate the death and reviving of Tammuz, or Nimrod (Stanley's Sabean Philosophy, p.1065). Tammuz actually means "perfecting fire" (tam ["to make perfect"] + muz [fire]) (Hislop p.245 note). In Ireland they leap through the St. John fires (Toland's Druids, p.107) just as Israelites caused their children to "pass through the fire to Molech" (Nimrod) (2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 32:35; Ez. 20:31). John in Latin is "Joannes" and Nimrod was called "Oannes" (Bunsen's Egypt, vol. 1, p.707) so they appeared superficially similar allowing a clever counterfeit.

"The early Christians had at first adopted the seven-day week with its numbered week days, but by the close of the 3rd century A.D. this began to give way to the planetary week. The use of planetary names (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc.) attests the growing influence of astrological speculations introduced by the converts from paganism" (Webster's Rest Day, p.252). Yes, as Pope Gregory advised, the Roman Catholic Church should MEET THE PAGANS HALF WAY and so bring them into the Church (Bower's Lives of Popes, vol.2, p.523). No wonder then that the woman (church) sitting on the beast in Revelation 17:3 has the name "Mystery Babylon The Great, The Mother of Harlots" (17:5).

Instead of asking how the pagan nations served their gods, and participating in their customs, God says, "Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God" (Deut. 12:30-31). "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Ex. 20:3). "Why call you me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). I hate, I despise your feast days, and ... your solemn assemblies ...Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity" (Amos 5:21-27). "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you" (Gal. 4:10-11). "My sabbaths they greatly polluted ... I lifted up My hand that I would scatter them among the heathen" (Ez. 20:8,13,23). Israel "worshipped all the host of heaven and served Baal ... therefore the Eternal was angry with Israel and removed them" (2 Kings 17:16-18). "Our fathers would not obey ..." (but instead worshipped) "the host of heaven ..." (so were transported) "beyond Babylon" (Acts 7:39-43). "These things were our EXAMPLES ... they are written for our ADMONITION" (1Cor. 10:6-11).

Shem (Melchizedek) Executed Nimrod (Marduk) for Idolatry

At the Tower of Babel different ethnic groups were given different languages. Since nobody could understand eachother, Nimrod, Semiramis and Horus were each given a different name in each different language. What thereafter appeared to be polytheism was actually just the same ruling family of Babylon under multiple names. Many nations around the world -- Japan, China, India, Scandinavia, Ireland and Iceland -- each WEEP for their dead god (Marduk, Osiris, Balder, Tammuz, Bacchus, Nin, Mithra) hoping for him to be restored to life. This practice is still found today in the LENT season. Bacchus actually means "the BEWAILED One" or "LAMENTED One" (Hislop, pp. 55-57). Even Israelites in their time wept for the death of Tammuz: "There sat women WEEPING for Tammuz" (Ez. 8:14).

Shem was regarded as the foe of Osiris and all the gods of Egypt (Bunsen's Egypt 1:456). "When the false prophet named Thammuz (Nimrod) preached to a certain king that he should WORSHIP the seven STARS and the twelve SIGNS of the ZODIAC, that king ordered him to be put to a terrible death ... And hence arose the custom every year, on the first day of the month Thammuz, to mourn and to weep for Thammuz" (Maimonides, More Nevochim, p. 426).

Who executed this giant Nimrod? His name was "Sem" (Wilkinson, vol.5, p.17) who killed him "by the power of God" and then cut his body into pieces (vol.4, pp.330-332) or tearing him limb from limb (p.81, Sanchoniathon). Shem was also known as "Sheth" (Num. 24:17). Typho was called Seth (Epiphanius, Adv. Haeres., book 3). Plutarch gives to Typhon the titles of "Seth" and "Smy", and the latter in Greek would be "Smu" which is evidently the same as "Semu". Therefore, another account reads: "Set, the brother of Osiris, rebelled against him and cut his body in pieces" (Rawlinson's Egypt and Babylon). Both Seth and Shem are synonymous and mean "the appointed one" (p.65, Hislop). He was called Sydyc (Melchizedek -- p. 47. Sanchoniathon).

As further proof that Typhon was Titan, or Shem, it is related by Plutarch that when Typhon was subsequently conquered, he fled away and begat Hierosolymus and Judaeus (Plutarch De Iside, S. 31; Cumberland's Sanchoniathon, p.108). That is Hierosalem, or Jerusalem, and Judea. This is a mystical way of saying that he was the founder of Jerusalem and the ancestor of the Jews. This tends to identify Shem with Melchizedek, whose name means "righteous king," and who was king of Salem or Jerusalem. As "priest of the Most High God" (Heb. 7:1), he was evidently the origin of the name Jerusalem, or Hierosalem, "Hieros" or "Hiereus" meaning "priest."

Typhon overcame Osiris "not by force or open war, but, having entered into a conspiracy with SEVENTY-TWO of the LEADING MEN of Egypt, he got him into his power and put him to death, and then cut his body into pieces and sent the different parts to so many different cities throughout the country" (Wilkinson's Egyptians 4:330-332). This agrees with Diodorus who reported that Egypt was divided into SEVENTY-TWO Nomes and each had a JUDGE (Diodorus 1:48-58; Hislop, p.64 note).

How Did Tree-Worship Originate?

After Osiris had been executed, his coffin was discovered enclosed in a TREE trunk, and he is spoken of in the inscriptions as "the one in the TREE" or "the solitary one in the ACACIA." The rites too, by which his death and burial were annually celebrated appear to couple him closely with Tammuz, Adonis, Attis, Dionysus and other gods whose worship was associated with a similar ritual. (Frazer, Golden Bough 1:307) TREE GODS die and are revived annually with vegetation. Tammuz was represented as originally dwelling in a TREE (Sayce, p.238, Religion of Ancient Babylonians). Adonis, beloved of Aphrodite, was born from a MYRRH-TREE. Attis, the favorite of Cybele, was represented in Phrygia in the form of a decorated PINE TREE, to which his image was attached. Dionysus was worshipped throughout Greece as "Dionysus of the TREE." The SIAMESE at the present day frequently make offerings to the TREE-dwelling spirits, and HANG GIFTS on any TREE whose deity they desire to propitiate (Tylor, Primitive Culture, 2:196). Druids of Britain worshipped the OAK TREE. (Pliny Natural History, 16:95). Xerxes decorated a PLANE TREE with golden ornaments in Lydia (Her. 7:31). The custom of adorning TREES "with jewels and mantles" was very ancient and universal (Aelian V.H. 2:14; Theocr. Id. 18; Ovid Met. 8:723, 745; Arnob. adv. Gentes 1:39) and even today exists. "The Saturnalia, like Christmas, was a time for giving presents. Small DOLLS were a popular gift -- though for an unpleasant reason. They commemorated a myth that Saturn ate all his male children at birth, to fulfill a pledge that he would die without heirs" (The United Church Observer, "Santa's Family Tree," Dec. 1976, p. 14). "All classes exchanged gifts, the commonest being waxed tapers and CLAY DOLLS ... These DOLLS were especially given to children. Varro thought these DOLLS represented original SACRIFICES of human beings to the infernal god" (Encyc. Brit. 24:231, 11th ed.). "When ye offer your gifts ... ye pollute yourselves with all your idols" (Ez. 20:31). The Puritan Long Parliament in April, 1644, decreed the removal of the MAYPOLE as "a heathenish vanity greatly abused to superstition and wickedness." Thus saith
the Eternal, Learn not the way of the heathen ... For the customs of the
people are vain; for one cutteth a TREE out of the forest, the
work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They DECK it with SILVER and with GOLD; they fasten it with nails and with
hammers, that it move not. They are upright like the palm tree, but speak
not" (Jer. 10:2-5). “Little children, keep yourselves from
IDOLS” (1 John 5:21). “A CORRUPT TREE bringeth forth EVIL
fruit” (Matt. 7:17). "Thou shalt take up this proverb against
the king of Babylon ...The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked ... All
the lands are at rest and at peace; they break into singing. Even the PINE TREES and the cedars of Lebanon exult over you and say, '
Now that you have been laid low, no woodsman comes to CUT US DOWN'"
(Isa. 14:5-8).

Semiramis Created Mystery Religions With Pilgrimages, Relics, Shrines, Celibacy, and A False Messiah

Ancient traditions relate that Nimrod was slain in Rome by Shem and his dead body was cut into pieces as a warning not to apostasize (Wilkinson's Egyptians, vol. 5, p.17; Hislop, p.63, 232). Plutarch describes the search Semiramis made for these pieces. "Isis set out ... in search of the scattered members of her husband's body ... and one reason assigned for the different sepulchers of Osiris in Egypt is that whenever any one of his scattered limbs was discovered she buried it on the spot. Not only were these Egyptian RELICS sacred themselves, but they consecrated the very ground in which they were entombed" (Plutarch vol.2, pp.358-359). This led to PILGRIMAGES to worship RELICS and SHRINES. This ancient practice of cutting a body into pieces was even found in the Bible (Judges 19:29; 1 Sam. 11:7). Thereafter idolaters were afraid to practise their apostasy in the open. They didn't want to be executed. So they developed the "Mystery Religions" to disguise their idolatry (Hislop, p.66). Men whose "deeds are evil love darkness rather than light" (John 3:19). The story of Typhoeus relates that the gods were so frightened that they fled away to Egypt where Pan (Cush) advised them to assume the shapes of various animals to conceal their identity (Lemprierre, Typhaeus, Typhon, Pan, Gigantes; Ovid Fasti book 1, lines 393-404; Diod. Bibl. 1:16; Hyg., Poet. Astron., 2:28; Hyg. Fab. 196; Eratos., Catast., cap 27; Faber vol.2, p.406).

Semiramis had heard of the woman's prophesied seed who was to come and through whom mankind might obtain eternal life. "He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise your heel" (Gen. 3:15). This gave her a daring idea. She portrayed her dead husband, Nimrod, as the benefactor "savior" of mankind whose death would redeem mankind from eternal death. She combined his sun-serpent worship with Noah's prophecy of the Savior who would die for mankind. She claimed to "supernaturally" conceive and cause Nimrod to be reborn -- by means of one of her many illegitimate children -- called Horus. She palmed herself off as the virgin mother and made her dead husband the resurrected savior -- over 2000 years in advance. The Bible refers to the couple as "Baal and Ashtaroth" (Judges 2:13). Those who explained the meaning of the Mysteries to initiates were called "PETER" in the primitive Chaldee, the real language of the Mysteries. This means "INTERPRETER" (Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon, p.602). It was one of these interpreters or "PETERS," who was in pagan Rome long before Christ. He was confused with Peter the apostle of Christ. "The mystery of iniquity" continues to this day (2 Th. 2:7). Isis (Semiramis) established a priesthood, bound to secrecy and CELIBACY. The worship of Cybele, the Babylonian goddess, was introduced into pagan Rome, with its CELIBATE clergy (Pausanias 7:17:566). This was adopted by the Papal priesthood. Words with double meanings and mystic symbols and secret rites were employed to create "the Mysteries" for the purpose of resuscitating IDOLATRY while avoiding exposure. In this way, Horus finally defeated Typhon. IDOLATRY was triumphant. One body part that Semiramis was unable to find was his PHALLUS, so she made a wooden representation of it, and paid it special honor (Lemprierre, Isis, Phallion). That is where PHALLIC worship came from. There were several cities in Middle Egypt called "Busuris," meaning the burial place of Osiris (Osburn, vol.1, pp.328-329).

When Nimrod was executed, his Cushite followers fled to Ethiopia, but Saturn (Menes or Cush) fled to Italy (Lempriere, Saturn), and not only do the ruins of the two cities, Saturnia and Janicula, mentioned by Virgil (Aeneid, book 8:2 467-470, vol.3. p.608) attest to the fact, but Latium is also said to have received its name from
"latere," "to lie hid," because Saturn was supposed to be hidden there (Ovid Fasti book 7, l.238, vol.3. p.29; Aeneid, book 8, l.319, etc., p.384). Latinus, or Lateinos, the ancient king of Italy and father of the Latins, may have been Saturn. For Saturn signifies "the hidden one," and this also is the meaning of "Latinus," which is evidently derived from "Latere," which is itself derived from the Chaldee "Lat," "the hidden one" (Hislop, p.270, note). Aeneas represents Latinus to be the grandson of Saturn (Aeneid book 7:45-49; Hislop, p. 271 note), but this may be only to make a distinction between god and man. Latinus was also deified as a son of the Sun god (Dryden, Virgil book 12:245,248, vol.3, p.775). This fact together with the fact that Saturn, Latinus and Latium have all the same meaning and that Italy was formerly called "The Saturnian Land," seems to indicate that the ancient Latins were a Cushite colony founded by Cush. The most ancient people of Italy were called Etrurians and were of Accadian or Cushite origin which tends to confirm this.

The complete defeat of Semiramis by the king of India and the destruction of her army prevented any assistance from Babylon (Lenormant, Ancient Hist. of the East 1:364, 367). But she represented Nimrod's death as voluntarily suffered for the good of mankind, and that he was none other than the "promised seed of the woman" -- the messiah -- the redeemer -- who destroyed the serpent but suffered death. Therefore Nimrod was called Zoroaster (Zero [seed] + ashta [fire or woman]) whom Suidas says was the founder of Babylonian idolatry (Suidas 1:1133; Hislop, p.59 note). Both the "seed of the woman" and "fire god." "Osiris" may mean "The seed" also (Wilkinson's Egyptians 4:103, note) and therefore Typhon (Shem) was portrayed as the evil serpent. Nimrod is then reincarnated as Horus, Apollo or Chrishna to slay the "serpent" Typhon, Pytho or Calyia.

Semiramis Taught Sacred Prostitution and Phallic Worship

Herodotus claimed all Babylonian women were required to PROSTITUTE themselves once in their life for religious purposes (Hist. 1:199). In ancient Greece, sacred PROSTITUTION was known in the city of Corinth where the Temple of Aphrodite employed a significant number of female servants (Strabo Geographica 8:6:20). Sacred PROSTITUTION was common in Egypt, Greece, Phoenicia, India and Babylon in ancient times. Micah 1:7 condemns "the hire of an HARLOT". Fertility rites, sexual orgies, eunuchs and priests wearing female attire, maypoles, obelisks, bells, round towers, lingam (phallus) and yoni (vagina) can all be traced back to Babylon since Semiramis was unable to find Nimrod's PHALLUS, so she made a wooden representation of it, and paid it special honor (Lemprierre, Isis, Phallion). That is where PHALLIC worship came from. Osiris was the PHALLIC god, and at his SHAMELESS and OBSCENE festivals huge figures of the PHALLUS were carried in procession (Herodotus 2:48-49). Osiris was also known as PRIAPUS (p. 88 Sanchoniathon). Plutarch says that the festival of Pammylia in honor of Osiris resembled the Phallophoria, or PHALLIC festival in Greece, and adds that "from the manner of celebrating it, it is evident that Osiris is in reality the great principle of FECUNDITY" (Plutarch, De Iside S. 12, s. 36; Wilkinson 3:83). Valentine's Day is a modern continuation of this tradition.

It is true that Abraham erected PILLARS (Gen. 21:33: "grove" Heb. eshel -- tamarisk) and Jacob set a STONE "up for a PILLAR, and poured oil upon the top of it" (Gen. 28:18). But what Moses condemned was the PILLAR worship of foreign gods (Deut. 12:1-4: "grove" Heb. asherah -- shrine) since Yahweh likens himself to a STONE or PILLAR (Ex. 13:21; Deut. 32:18,37; Josh. 24:26; 2 Sam. 22:32; Ps. 18:2; Ps. 92:15; Ps. 95:1). Asa destroyed an idol in a "GROVE" (1 Ki. 15:13). Baal, says Inman, means "My Lord the OPENER " and Peor signifies "the OPENING of the maiden's HYMEN" (Thomas Inman, Ancient Faiths, 1:325). Thus Baal-Peor claimed from man the sacrifice of circumcision and from woman the sacrifice of her MAIDENHEAD. The name Baal-Peor, says Iarchi, was given to the god because his followers "distended their POSTERIORS before him and offered to him the deposit"; while the female worshippers of the idol uncovered the MONS VENERIS before it. In Syria, says St. Jerome, the image of Baal-Peor had a PHALLUS protruding from its mouth. The Hebrews viewed this deity as obscene, filthy and abominable. As Hosea said, "They went to Baal-Peor, and separated themselves (STRADDLED) unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved." "The adoration", says Maimonides, "made to this idol called Pehor, consisted of discovering the SECRET PARTS before it. The law therefore commanded the priests to WEAR DRAWERS when they sacrificed, and forbade them to get up to the altar by steps, lest their NAKEDNESS should happen to be uncovered." (Thomas Lewis, Origines Hebraeae 5:71). Yet the reality is that "God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and OPENED her womb." He is the real OPENER.

It was the universal custom for anyone making a vow to place his hand upon either his own SEXUAL MEMBER or upon that of the other person concerned. Apparently the PENIS represented Yahweh. "Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh (on my CIRCUMCISED PENIS): and I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of earth" (Gen. 24:2; 47:29).
Also "We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to get enough bread to eat" (Lam. 5:6). God himself reviles Pharaoh for breaking the covenant when "he had given his hand" (Ez. 17:18; and when Solomon was made king of Israel, "all the princes, and the mighty men, and all the sons likewise of King David, submitted themselves unto Solomon the king" (1 Chr. 29:24). This is a euphemism for the literal Hebrew which reads, "gave the hand under Solomon."

Semiramis Counterfeited the Virgin Mother

Semiramis was first the wife of Oannes, king of Syria (Assyria), who was Cush, the story being in exact accordance with the Grecian myth of Vulcan (Cush), Venus (Semiramis) and Mars (Nimrod). (see Lempriere Vulcan, Mars, etc.) Nimrod had many titles as did his wife also (Wilkinson, vol.4, p.179). The images of Semiramis and Nimrod were worshipped and adored as Madonna and Child (Isis and Osiris). The Egyptians imagined that there were two chief gods, the Sun and the Moon, called Osiris and Isis (Diodorus 1:11). Macrobius calls Osiris the Sun and Isis the Earth or Nature (Macrobius, Saturn 1:26). Plutarch says that Osiris represented "Masculine nature, or the prime cause (creative power of Sun), and that Isis represented the Earth "the feminine part of nature, the second cause or the receptive power" (Plutarch, De Iside S. 38, S. 56). In Babylon, Baal and Beltis meant "My Lord" and "My Lady". In Latin, "My Lady" is "Mea Domina" which is "Madonna" in Italian. "Alma Mater" means the "Virgin Mother." Both Justin and Castor state that Ninus was the second king of Babylon and the son and successor of Belus, and that, after the death of Ninus, his wife Semiramis succeeded him on the throne of Babylon (Justin Historia, p.615; Castor Cory's Fragments, p.65). This is also testified to by Eusebius and Africanus in their dynasties of Assyrian kings (Cory, pp.70-71).

According to Ovid and Justin, it was Semiramis who surrounded Babylon with a wall (Ovid Opera Metam. book 4. fab. 4.1.58, vol.2. p.177; Hislop p.308). Megasthenes says it was Belus who built the wall (Cory, pp.45-46). She finished what Nimrod started. Thus Rhea, known also as Cybele, is represented with a turreted crown, and Ovid says that the reason why she wore this crown was because "she was the first who erected towers in cities" (Ovid op. vol. 3; Fasti 4. 219-221; Hislop p.30) which further identifies her with Semiramis. Diana or Artemis is is also represented with a turreted crown (Hislop. p.29). Astarte actually means "Woman turret" in Hebrew.

Alexander the Great found the name of Semiramis inscribed on the frontiers of Scythia with the inscription: "I ruled the Empire of Ninus, which reaches eastward to the River Hinaman (Indus), southward to the land of incense and myrrh (Arabia), northward to the Saces and Sogdians. Before me no Assyrian had seen a sea; I have seen four that no one had approached, so far were they distant. I compelled the rivers to run where I wished and directed them to places where they were required. I made barren lands fertile by watering them with my rivers. I built impregnable fortresses. With iron tools I made roads across impassable rocks. I opened roads for my chariots where the very wild beasts had been unable to pass. In the midst of these occupations I have found time for pleasure and love " (recorded by Polyenus, Lenormant 1:367). It is well known that Semiramis was famous for her beauty and immorality, and was a fitting original for the goddess "Venus Aphrodite." The history concludes by saying that Semiramis abdicated in favor of her son, and disappeared, being changed into a dove (the symbol of Juno), and was worshipped as a goddess.

These accounts are confirmed by Strabo, who says that Ninus built Nineveh, which he describes as much larger than Babylon, and that Semiramis built the latter city. "These sovereigns were masters of Asia. Many other works of Semiramis besides those at Babylon are extant in almost every part of the continent, as, for example, artificial mounds which are called the mounds of Semiramis, and walls and fortresses with subterranean passages, cisterns for water, roads to facilitate the ascent of mountains, canals communicating with rivers and lakes, roads and bridges" (Strabo vol.3. book 16. ch. 2-3).

The Bible doesn't mention SEMIRAMIS by name. But in Acts we read that "all Asia and the world worships" DIANA (Acts 19:27) -- under a variety of names. DIUNE is the Chaldee for "DOVE" (Hislop, pp.78-79). DOVES were sacred to JUNO; and in a medal given by Layard (Nineveh and Babylon, p.250), the Babylonian goddess is represented with two DOVES on her head, while on the reverse there is a DOVE bearing an olive BRANCH in its mouth. Now the name "SEMIRAMIS" signifies "the BRANCH bearer": Se (the) + emir (branch) + amit (bearer). On another medal or coin (Bryant, 3:84), the goddess CYBELE, or RHEA, is represented with a conventional BRANCH in her hand and DOVE by her side. According to Hesychius, Semiramis was the name given by the Greeks to wild PIGEONS or DOVES (Hesychius, Semiramis). Diodorus Siculus and Athenagoras both say that Semiramis after her death was worshipped by the Babylonians and throughout the East as "RHEA," "the great goddess mother" (Diodorus Siculus book 2, p.76; Athenagoras, Legatio, pp.178-179; Pascal Chronicle, vol.1, p.65). She was also known in Greece as "AMMAS" which is the Hellenic form of the Chaldee AMA, "the mother." Rawlinson, speaking of the Great Goddess Mother, says, "She was ASTARTE in Phoenicia who is even said by Sanchoniathon to have had a cow's head, like Athor, the VENUS of Egypt, whence called ASHTORETH KARNAIM (Horned). She was VENUS URANIA, said by Pausanias to have been chiefly honoured by the Assyrians." He also identifies her with "ANAITIS, with CERES, with the QUEEN of HEAVEN, the MOON, RHEA, or CYBELE, JUNA, DIANA, LUCINA, ISIS, and ATHOR, the Phoenician TANITH, MINERVA and the Egyptian NEITH" (Rawlinson's Herod. vol.2, essay 1. pp.537-539). The Bible also mentions the "QUEEN of HEAVEN" (Jer. 7:18). Furthermore, the women of Judah offered "cakes (or Hot Cross Buns) to the QUEEN of HEAVEN " (Jer. 44:19). "The Greeks offered such sacred cakes to ASTARTE ... (which) they called bous (ox), in allusion to the ox-symbol marked on it, and from the accusative boun it is suggested that the word 'bun' is derived" (Encyc. Brit. 4:796). Therefore ASTARTE was the "QUEEN of HEAVEN." ASTARTE was the wife of BACCHUS and "The rites of OSIRIS and BACCHUS are the same" (Herodotus 2:42; Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheca 1:9). If BACCHUS and OSIRIS are the same, then ASTARTE and ISIS, their wives, are the same. This is confirmed when we learn that ISIS, the wife of Osiris, was also known as "the QUEEN of HEAVEN" (Lucius Apuleius The Golden Ass, book 11 ch.47). Thus BACCHUS and OSIRIS were names for Nimrod, and ASTARTE and ISIS were names for SEMIRAMIS. Furthermore, the lamentations for TAMMUZ (Ez. 8:14) during lent were the same as those for ADONIS and OSIRIS (Lucian De DeaSyria, vol.3, p.454; Bunsen vol.1p.443). That means that their wives -- ISHTAR, APHRODITE and ISIS -- were all names for Semiramis. According to Sanchoniathon, CERES is ISIS who is also PERSEPHONE (p. 206, Sanchoniathon). The pagan goddess of Egypt and Babylon was called "Dea Myrionymus" meaning "the goddess with ten thousand names".

"Semiramis, that ancient queen who was the first person to CASTRATE male youths of tender age" (Ammianus Marcellinus book 14). Her beauty is said to have once quelled a rising rebellion among her subjects on her sudden appearance among them (Valerius Maximus 9:3, p.2).

The Book of Revelation is a mirror image of Genesis. Therefore when we read about "the great whore" with "a golden cup in her hand" who commits "fornication" with "the kings of the earth" and has made them "drunk" with intoxicating false doctrine and who has a name "Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the earth" (Rev. 17:1-5), we think immediately of Naamah and Semiramis. Semiramis was the mother of harlots because "The foulest Babylonian custom is that which compels every woman of the land to sit in the temple of Aphrodite and have intercourse with some stranger at least once in her life" (Herodotus Histories 1:199). Her golden cup is defined as "Babylon" which "hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunk" (Jer. 50:1). What is this "mystery of iniquity" (2 Th. 2:7)? The kings in Nimrod's day supported the counterfeit religious Mysteries of Semiramis (Rev. 17:5) -- a mixture of Noah's teaching combined with Nimrod's sun-serpent worship. The object of these Mysteries was "to bind all mankind into BLIND and absolute SUBMISSION to a hierarchy entirely dependent on the sovereigns of Babylon" (Hislop, p.5). "Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord" (Jer. 17:5). Just as Semiramis demanded obedience from the kings who fornicated with her around 2000 BC, so also the Roman Catholic Church requires SUBMISSION from civil powers today. Semiramis pretended to be a virgin who miraculously conceived and brought forth a savior. She used an illegitimate son for this purpose. Other names for Semiramis include Astarte (Syrian) or Cybele (Roman) or Isis (Egyptian). She also bore the name "Mylitta" (Mediatrix), but Scripture says "there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5).

From Babylon to Egypt to Greece

The similar religious rites and beliefs of of different nations so widely separated from eachother indicates "they must have all sprung from some COMMON ORIGIN" (Faber's Origin of Pagan Idolatry 1:59). Josephus says Abraham told the Egyptians about "arithmetic, and delivered to them the science of astronomy; for before Abram came into Egypt, they were unacquainted with those parts of learning; for that science came from the CHALDEANS into EGYPT, and from thence to the GREEKS also" (Ant. 1:8:2). This is also confirmed by Scripture, which likens the effect of the idolatry to drunkenness, and states: "Babylon hath been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord to make all the earth drunken. The nations have drunken of her wine, therefore are the nations mad" (Jer. 51:7). Zonares writes, "It is said that these (arithmetic and astronomy) came from the CHALDEES to the EGYPTIANS and thence to the GREEKS" (1:6:34). Bunsen concludes that "the religious system of EGYPT was derived from Asia and the primitive ermpire in BABEL." (Bunsen's Egypt 1:444). Layard also says, "Of the great antiquity of this primitive worship, there is abundant evidence ... having preceded that of EGYPT. The identity of many of the ASSYRIAN doctrines with those of EGYPT is alluded to by Porphyry and Clemens" (Layard's Nineveh and It's Remains, 2:440). Birch says concerning the Babylonian inscriptions: "The Zodiacal signs show unequivocally that the GREEKS derived their notions and arrangements of the Zodiac, and consequently their mythology, which was intertwined with it, from the CHALDEES." (Layard's Nineveh, 2:439, 440). Ouwaroff says that "the EGYPTIANS claimed the honour of having transmitted to the GREEKS the first elements of Polytheism" (Ouwaroff's Eleusinian Mysteries, sect. 2, p.20). Herodotus also says that the names of almost all the gods came from EGYPT to GREECE (Herodotus Hist. 2:50). Professor Rawlinson remarks, "In the Pantheons of GREECE and ROME and in that of CHALDEA the same general grouping is to be recognized; the same geneological succession is not unfrequently to be traced; and in some cases even the familiar names and titles of classical divinities admit of the most curious illustration and explanation from CHALDEAN sources. We can scarcely doubt but that, in some way or other, there was a communication of beliefs, -- a passage in very early times from the shores of the Persian Gulf to lands washed by the Mediterranean, of mythological notions and ideas" (Rawlinson's Five Great Monarchies 1:7:111-112).

Counterfeit "Christianiy" Before Christ

At the time of Jesus, there were temples dedicated to gods like Apollo or Dionysus among the Greeks. Hercules among the Romans. Mithra among the Persians. Adonis and Attisin Syria and Phrygia. Osiris, Isis and Horus in Egypt. Baal and Astarte among the Babylonians and Carthaginians. Notwithstanding great distances, and racial differences, their CREEDS and CEREMONIES were IDENTICAL. (See Forerunners and Rivals of Christianity by Legge; Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions by Doane; Pagan Christs by Robertson and The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors by Graves)

1. They were all born on or very near December 25 (winter solstice).
2. They were all born of a Virgin-Mother.
3. In a cave or stable.
4. They led a life of suffering for mankind.
5. They were labelled "Light-bringer," "Healer," "Mediator," "Savior," "Messiah," "Redeemer," "Lord," and "Deliverer."
6. They were "crucified for the sins of the world" or defeated by the powers of darkness.
7. They descended into Hell.
8. After being slain, they rose again from the dead after three days and ascended into heaven at Easter (Ishtar).
9. They founded churches into which disciples were received by baptism.
10. They were commemorated by eucharistic meals -- of literal flesh and blood (cannibalism).
11. Many of these savior-gods were believed to have a second coming.

There have been many counterfeit "Saviors". Many other Madonnas with child and many other crosses long before the New Testament account took place. "The SIMILARITY of ancient pagan legends and beliefs with Christian traditions was so great that they excited the attention and undisguised wrath of the early Christian ... not knowing how to explain it, they fell back to the theory the devil, centuries before, caused the pagans to adopt certain beliefs and practices." (Edward Carpenter's Pagan & Christian Creeds, p.25). Tertullian (160-220 AD) said, "The devil, by the mysteries of his idols, IMITATES even the main part of the divine mysteries." "Cortez, too, complained that the devil had possibly taught the Mexicans the SAME THING that God taught Christendom." "The Christian Church has kept itself severely apart from discussions of heathenism ... few people nowadays realize that it has sprung from just the SAME ROOT as paganism and that it SHARES by far the most part of its doctrines and rites with the latter" (pp. 11-12). Paul warned in 2 Thess. 2:7, "The mystery of iniquity doth already work."

What is Babylon?

Revelation 14:8 speaks of a BABYLON which will be destroyed in our day. Revelation 18:4 tells us to come out of BABYLON lest we receive of her plagues today. Nobody will receive eternal life while they are in this modern BABYLONIAN system. But what is BABYLON? BABYLON can be summarized as deciding for yourself what is good and what is evil -- and breaking God's law in the process. Since only God has the right to decide right from wrong, it is becoming "as gods" (Gen. 3:4-5) and self-deification to decide for ourselves. Do we presume to take God's prerogative? "Every man did that which was right in HIS OWN eyes" (Judges 21:25) -- instead of obeying the Bible. Humans counterfeited God's laws with their own laws that take the place of God's laws. BABYLON was the source from which all idolatry flowed (Herodotus History 2:109). Isaiah 47:1 describes the system which rules the earth today as the DAUGHTER of the original BABYLON and Revelation 18:3 says all nations have drunk of the wine of her spiritual fornication or false doctrine. "In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt. 15:9). "There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Pr. 14:12). Notice that CASTRATION and CANNIBALISM, HUMAN SACRIFICE, PHALLIC WORSHIP and SERPENT-SUN-IDOL WORSHIP are just some of the fruits of this way.

Vain Repetitions in Prayer By Using a Rosary

Jesus said, "When you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do" (Matt. 6:7). Yet the Rosary -- a necklace of beads to count prayers -- was used as a sacred instrument among the ancient Mexicans (Humboldt's Mexican Researches, vol.2, p.29) and also among the Brahmins. Hindoo sacred books refer to it often. The Rosary was used by the heathen of ancient Tibet, China, Greece and ancient Rome (before the time of Christ). The name "Rosary" itself seems to be from the Chaldee (Babylonian) "Ro" (thought) and "Shareh" (director) (Hislop, p.188) indicating that it came from Babylon. Prayer must be from the heart.

Penance

At the feast of Isis at Busiris, after the ceremonies of sacrifice, many thousands of EGYPTIANS assembled and SCOURGED themselves (Her. 2:61). Callimachus spoke of sailors who visited the GREEK shrine of Apollo by saying, "Nor do the crew presume to quit thy sacred limits till they have passed a fearful penance, with the galling WHIP LASHED thrice around thine altar" (Callimachus v. 318-321, vol. 1. p.137). Similarly, in ISRAEL the priests of Baal, to appease their god, "cried aloud and CUT themselves after their manner with knives and with lancets until the blood gushed out" (1 Ki. 18:28). The Corybantes, or priests of Cybele, the priests of Bellona, and the Balluses in their nightly processions also SCOURGED themselves" (Lactantius, lib. i. cap. ii. p. 52; Hurd's Rites and Ceremonies 3:251). Speaking of the penances done by "Fakirs" of INDIA, Nightingale says, "some vow to continue for life in one unvaried posture, others undertake to carry a cumbrous load, or drag a heavy chain, some crawl on their hands and knees for years, some swing during their whole life in this torrid clime before a slow fire, others suspend themselves with their heads down for a certain time over the fiercest flames. They imagine that the expiation of their own sins and sometimes those of others consists in the most rigorous PENANCES and mortifications" (Nightingale, Religions and Ceremonies, ch. 10, p.398). In pagan ROME, Juvenal, describing a woman seeking to expiate her sins, says, "She will break the ice and go down into the river in the depth of winter; she will dip herself three times in the Tiber and bathe her timid head in its very eddies, then naked and shivering she will go and crawl on bleeding knees over the whole extent of the Campus Martius" (Satires 6:522-526). So also Tibullus says, "I would not hesitate, if I had done wrong, to prostrate myself in the temples, and to give kisses to the consecrated floors and thresholds. I would not refuse to crawl over the floor on my knees and to BEAT my wretched head against the holy door posts" (Tibullus 1:2:83).

Confessional

Initiation into the Greater Mysteries was preceded by fasting and by CONFESSION to the priest, making the initiate subject to the priest. "All the Greeks from Delphi to Thermopylae, were initiated into the mysteries of the temple at Delphi. Their silence in regard to everything they were commanded to keep secret was secured, both by the penalties threatened to a perjured revelation, and by the general CONFESSION exacted of aspirants before initiation, a confession which caused them greater dread of the indiscretion of the priest, than gave him reason to fear their indiscretion" (Eusebe Salverte, Des Sciences Occultes, ch. 26, p. 428; Hislop p. 9).

Paganism Infiltrated the Church

How did the perversion of the gospel come about? "The jewish converts who laid the foundations of the church, soon found themselves overwhelmed by the increasing multitudes that from all the various religions of polytheism enlisted under the banner of Christ" (Gibbon, vol. 1, ch. 15). Professing Christians "found a new occupation in the government of the church.... The ambition of raising themselves or their friends to offices of the church was disguised by ... laudable intention" (Gibbon vol.1, ch.15). Faithful members were ex-communicated. "Worship, at first very simple, was developed into elaborate, stately, imposing ceremonies having all the outward splendor that belonged to heathen temples.... The Imperial church of the 4th and 5th centuries had become an entirely different institution from the persecuted church of the first three centuries. In its ambition to rule it lost and forgot the spirit of Christ" (Halley's Handbook, p.671). "If, in the beginning of the fifth century, Tertullian or Lactantius (early Catholics) had been suddenly raised from the dead, to assist at the festival of some popular saint or martyr, they would have gazed with astonishment and indignation on the profane spectacle which had succeeded to the pure and spiritual worship of a Christian congregation" (Gibbon, vol.5, ch.27). "In exact proportion as paganism has disappeared from without the church, in the very same proportion it appears within it" (Geisler's Ecclesiastical History vol.2, p.40,45).

In the Millenium, "He will destroy ... the face of the (HEATHEN) COVERING cast over all people, and the VEIL (of PAGAN IGNORANCE) that is spread over all nations (Isa. 25:7). The "nations shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have INHERITED LIES, VANITY, and things in which there is NO PROFIT" (Jer. 16:19). Any nation which "loves and practices a LIE" will be kept out of New Jerusalem (Rev. 22:15).